Help with my new mallard! NECK SPASMS?

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tweetyinthesky

tweetyinthesky

Hatching
7 Years
Jun 18, 2012
4
0
7
Can someone please help me. I have a mallard that hatched 4 hours ago and it keeps throwing its head all the way back so far that it flips over. It's like its in a constant state of neck spasms. It has been like this since it hatched. I had 10 eggs, all were fertile, 5 died within the first few days, one died at about day 14 and one died at about day 20. One hatched about 14 hours ago and is doing fine, and one is still hatching. I helped them out a little bit today, but they did most of the hatching themselves. I don't know what to do about this little one and I don't know why so many died. I have done this before and most of them made it to the hatching day. Is this neck thing something that will go away? He kind of looks crippled when he throws his neck all the way back, he can't even stand. I have him wrapped in a towel so he will be still so that he can sleep a little. HELP PLEASE!!
 
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I'm so sorry to hear about your troubles. Where did you get the eggs and how did you incubate them? Something's very wrong here...
 
I got them from a lady in Houston, she sold them to me and I went and picked them up. I incubated them in a Mini Brinsea incubator. I was thinking maybe the parents were inbred or something? Would that cause all of these problems?
 
You need to find out if any of the parents carried the crested gene. It sounds like this duckling has neurological issues often associated with the gene. You might want to join us in the duck section for further advice
 
Oh my gosh, thank you so much. This duckling does have that little ball thing on top of its head. I knew what crested meant, but I had no idea about the lethal gene and all the problems associated with breeding crested ducks. I woke up this morning and the duckling was all fine, like nothing had happened. So now I have three ducklings, out of 10 eggs, so now I might have an understanding as to why so many died in the egg. Thanks for your information...I will never order crested duck eggs again!
 

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